Boocoo Dinky Dow: My short, crazy Vietnam War - Paperback

by Julie A. Titone (Author), Grady C. Myers (Author)

Grady Myers was an artistic but aimless teenager in 1968, when, desperate for troops, the U.S. Army overlooked his extreme nearsightedness and transformed him into Hoss, an M-60 machine gunner. His illustrated memoir "Boocoo Dinky Dow: My short, crazy Vietnam War" is by turns funny and sobering. Grady recounts his military initiation at Fort Lewis, where there could be a fuzzy line between training and torture. He describes the intensity of Vietnam, where an old man carrying a bundle of sticks posed a moral dilemma and a young man would weigh the burden of his virginity against the dubious pleasures of riverbank prostitutes. Grady's explosives-happy comrades in Charlie Company sometimes posed the greatest danger. But, in a dramatic ambush, that same bunch of crazy soldiers risked their lives to save his. "Boocoo Dinky Dow" is how American GIs heard the French/Vietnamese phrase "beaucoup dien cai dau" for "very crazy." For more information, visit www.shortcrazyvietnam.com

Author Biography

Praise from the Pacific Northwest Inlander: " 'Boocoo Dinky Dow' offers readers a unique, intimate and often humorous glimpse into the absurdity and savagery of Vietnam." Grady Myers was a professional artist, working for the Boise and Spokane newspapers and then the U.S. Forest Service. He died in 2011. Co-author Julie Titone is a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in regional, national and international publications.